Hydraulic systems often use hydraulic valves in order to control the hydraulic system. One common type of valve is a spool poppet directional valve. Hydraulic systems may have hydraulic fluid being moved at high velocity. This high velocity fluid can create problems such as erosion within the hydraulic system. For example, high velocity fluid contains a lot of energy when a poppet valve is near or approaching its seat, the fluid is forced to slow down as it flows between the not yet seated poppet valve and its seat. This narrow gap while the valve is in the transition between being closed and open may be subject to wear and or erosion resulting from the energy dissipation of the hydraulic fluid. This erosion may, in some instances, leads to valve failure and/or leakage.
Furthermore, the hydraulic spool valves need to be actuated in order to move between an open and close position. Often the actuators move the spool axially between open and closed positions. In order to gain efficiency and reduce costs, is desirable to find ways to actuate the valves with minimal expenditures of energy.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an apparatus and method that allows the energy of high velocity hydraulic fluid to be dissipated without causing undue wear or erosion of valve sealing components. Further, it may be desirable to create an apparatus or method that can easily actuate hydraulic valves using reduced amounts of energy.